Sub Thoughts?

[rabbitzero]

I know FF11 stayed sub based, but it was also released in a different era, and amassed a decent following before all the free to play or buy to play models started popping up. Even WoW is losing members by the thousands every week.

The funny thing is that with WoW, the percentages of losses are similar to other mmos, not plain numbers, but percent of players. With how many play, thousands isn't that much of the player base.

FF11 still is subbed, like you said, and pretty much shows their opinions on F2P. I have no idea what they really need for numbers, i know Matrix Online shut down because it had something like 500 players left. DDO had under 25000, which was what Turbine said was needed for subs to continue being up, and when they went to f2p it skyrockted into the hundreds of thousands. (exact numbers unknown, but one dev said it increased about that much).

Also note that Wildstar and Elder Scrolls are looking to be sub based, who knows if they will stay that way, but it's a sign the f2p model isn't as shiny as it was. (I personally don't mind it, depending on how it's done.

The way Square seems to work, i wouldn't put any money on them going f2p any time soon, if ever.